US embassy cable - 05KUWAIT2485

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 002485 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARPI 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/04/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PARM, KU, IR, NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, KUWAIT-IRAN RELATIONS 
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR CRITICIZED FOR REITERATING U.S. 
POSITION ON IRAN 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Richard LeBaron for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
1. (C) Summary and Comment:  Led by National Assembly Speaker 
Jassem Al-Khorafi, a few Kuwaiti political figures have 
criticized the Ambassador's May 25 speech to the Kuwaiti 
Ministry of Defense Command and Staff College.  The public 
release of the speech, in which the Ambassador reiterated 
U.S. concern that Iran's pursuit of nuclear and other weapons 
of mass destruction was a threat to regional security, 
coincided with the visit to Kuwait of Iranian Foreign 
Ministry Spokesman Mohammed Reza Asefi, and was seen by some 
Kuwaitis as inflammatory.   The criticism also coincides with 
the downgrading of Kuwait's Trafficking in Persons (TIP) rank 
and placement on the USTR's Special 301 Priority Watchlist, 
decisions that have not been well received by the GOK or the 
public.  The Ambassador's remarks hewed closely to official 
USG policy and are of no substantive surprise to the GOK.  It 
is likely that the criticism by Speaker Khorafi is meant as 
much to placate the Government of Iran as to chastise the 
U.S.  The Kuwaiti Ambassador to Tehran told Poloff June 5 
(septel) that the GOK is "very, very concerned" about 
possible Iranian nuclear weapon development.  In addition, 
the timing of the speech, corresponding with two 
announcements widely seen as critical of Kuwait and the visit 
of an Iranian official, has no doubt added to any sense of 
injury felt by the GOK or its citizens.  The remarks by the 
Ambassador can be found at 
http://kuwait.usembassy.gov/may 25 2005.html.  End Comment 
and Summary. 
 
2. (SBU) Speaking to local dailies on June 4, National 
Assembly Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi characterized the 
Ambassador's May 25 speech to the Kuwait Ministry of Defense 
Command and Staff College as "interference" in Kuwait's 
bilateral relationship with Iran.  Bemoaning the Defense 
Ministry's invitation to the U.S. Ambassador to speak to 
graduating students -- an annual occurrence -- the Speaker 
said others "should not interfere in our affairs and should 
not transfer their conflicts with other countries to Kuwait." 
  The Speaker's remarks came after Defense Minister Shaykh 
Jaber Mubarak Al-Sabah's June 2 statement to local dailies 
that the Ambassador's remarks did not reflect the views of 
the Defense Ministry.  The speech, referencing POTUS' 
February 2 State of the Union address, had called upon Iran 
to "give up its uranium enrichment program, and any plutonium 
reprocessing, and end its support of terror." 
 
3. (C) Visiting Kuwaiti Ambassador to Tehran, Majed Al-Difiri 
(strictly protect), told Poloff and PolMiloff June 4 that the 
decision to allow the printing of the Ambassador,s speech in 
local dailies during Asefi's visit was a mistake, and 
unnecessarily aggravated the GOK, although the message may 
have been appropriate for the audience to which it was 
originally given.  He said that the GOK was concerned that 
the United States not involve it in its disagreements with 
Iran.  In a conversation with Poloff and PolMiloff on June 5, 
Sayed Mohammed Baqer Al-Mohri, head of Kuwait's Shiite 
Clerics Congregation, concurred.  Al-Mohri said Kuwait is a 
"small and weak state" whose international relations strategy 
involves delicately balancing its national security 
interests, and it could not afford to become a front line in 
the U.S.-Iranian conflict. 
 
4. (U) The Chairman of the National Assembly's Foreign 
Relations Committee, outspoken reformer Mohammed Jassem 
Al-Sager, defended the Ambassador's remarks during a June 5 
press conference.  Al-Sager said the Ambassador's comments 
reflect the views of the U.S. government and thus cannot be 
interpreted as interference in Kuwait's affairs. 
 
5. (SBU) The criticism of the Ambassador's remarks followed 
closely the June 3 announcement that Kuwait and other Gulf 
allies were ranked as Tier 3 countries in the Department's 
2005 TIP report, as well as the April 29 re-listing of Kuwait 
on the USTR's 301 Priority Watch List for IPR infringements. 
Both announcements and the speech earned criticism from local 
English daily The Kuwait Times, which published a June 5 
article entitled: "With Friends Like These: US policies 
aggravate relations with Kuwait." 
 
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LEBARON